Tag: Ruined

By Joe Mander

Lancaster Moor/Ridge Lea Asylum

Lancaster was the fourth county to establish an asylum following the 1808 County Asylums Act and a site to the west of the town at Lancaster was chosen, on the edge of Lancaster Moor. The hospital expanded throughout the next century and at the turn of the 1900’s new villas were added, including the Ladies…

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By Joe Mander

Dalquharran Castle

Located near the village of Dailly on the western coast of Scotland, Dalquharran Castle is a category A listed building which was completed in 1790. Two castles actually exist on the site, an older one which was abandoned in the 19th Century and this one which was in use until the 1960’s. The estate, including…

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By Liam Heatherson

Grain Fort & Tunnels

Grain Fort was constructed in the 1860s to defend the mouth of the River Medway and Thames against the threat of French naval attack. It was designed to support both Grain Tower out at sea, built from 1848-55, and Garrison Point Fort at Sheerness. It was altered and upgraded during proceeding conflicts, including the First…

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By Joe Mander

Sutton Hospital

Sutton Hospital opened as a cottage hospital in 1899, split across two semi-detached houses with just 6 beds between them. Just 3 years later it was moved to a new site with 12 beds across 4 wards and in 1930 moved again to its current location, which was named Sutton and Cheam District Hospital. As…

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By Liam Heatherson

RAF Kenley Bofors Gun Tower

According to Historic England, this Bofors light anti-aircraft gun tower was constructed circa 1940 at the start of World War Two as an outlying defence for RAF Kenley; a nearby fighter airfield. It is of the concrete pier design of which few survive nationally, and hence is Grade II listed. It is split down the…

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By Liam Heatherson

Cliffe Explosives Factory

Also known as ‘Curtis & Harvey’s Explosive Factory’ this massive site feels somewhat like the Wild West and is accompanied by loads of sheep. It covers an enormous area of the southern Thames Estuary once threatened by Boris Johnson’s plans for an airport, but now remains as a private farm known for its historical significance….

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By Joe Mander

Burnham Minefield Control Tower

Once the Second World started in 1939, Britain was keeping a close eye on the east-coast of the country to prevent any German invasion. Burnham-on-Crouch in Essex was little more than a small yacht town before World War Two however the town became much more important when Germany invaded France. With Kent and South-Essex heavily…

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By Joe Mander

St Martin’s Hospital

St Martin’s Hospital in Kent has been described as being “truly remnant of the asylums of the early nineteen hundreds” and walking around this 129 year old building you can see why. With Victorian corridors spanning tens of metres and old wards with the original sashed windows, this building has reached the end of its…

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By Liam Heatherson

Prisoner of War Camp 116

Down an unmade lane in the quaint countryside Essex village of Hatfield Heath lies what at first appears to be a set of abandoned farm sheds. This hutment was in fact Prisoner of War Camp ‘High Hall’ 116, and once housed around 1,500 Italian, Austrian, and (from 1943) German soldiers captured in the European and…

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By Joe Mander

West Thurrock Pillboxes

Situated along the Thames foreshore, these two pillboxes were built around 1940 as part of a huge scheme to build almost 30,000 pillboxes across the country, but especially the south-east. Located about 530 meters apart, each pillbox sits on a corner of the Essex marshes, opposite Greenhithe. Men from the Home Guard would have been…

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